Currently, high voltage connectors exist for use in electrical systems in a so called explosive atmosphere. Such environment can relate to various industrial facilities, for example, automotive refueling stations or petrol stations, oil refineries, rigs and offshore processing plants, chemical processing plants, underground coalmines and gas pipelines and distribution centers.
To avoid explosions caused by electrical discharge in air, existing certified high voltage connectors to be compliant with IEC/EN standard had to be limited to a maximum voltage of 11 kV (IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission).
The limitation of the high voltage level, may adversely limit electrical (power) system in industrial facilities. If higher voltage levels are needed dedicated solutions are required as alternative for the high voltage connector. Typically, such a standard solution like a dedicated junction box would require a larger foot print of the installation. In offshore applications such as a swivel stack on a floating (production) storage and offloading unit (FPSO/FSO), the use of standard junction boxes with cable glands instead of a high voltage connector would be oversized and not suitable with the requirements for relatively compact design.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or mitigate the disadvantages from the prior art.